The Coat That Wouldn't Come Off! by A. A. Augustine

know what it is my son?! “
The man then snapped and recoiled back, almost laughingly, looking up into the air. Like
a madman in one of Johnny’s Super Hero comic books. His hands folded over his paunchy belly fat
staggering around in a child-like, drunken, circular fashion. His boots clacking and clicking on the
sidewalk as he did so.
“ Yes, I sure would” said Johnny? Not knowing what to expect but knowing that no matter
what the cost Johnny would surely be able to afford the coat. He was the most wealthy boy in town
after all.
“Well,” said the man. Glowing from the prospect of the sale, “I will offer you this coat, a
one-of-a-kind jacket unlike any the world has ever seen and the one piece of material you will need
to grow all other future materials out of, for the small price… for the most infinitesimal amount…
for the measly paltry sum of ... of…”
The man behind the table could now sense he had the crowd’s attention as all you could
hear were the sounds of a few passing cars and the old, accusatory lady in the bonnet snickering and
clicking her teeth off to the side of the table near Johnny.
The man in the tattered-top-hat had the crowd exactly where he wanted them and held his
words for a moment, heightening the drama and tension in the air to a new, even higher level of
anticipation.
“...of... just ... ONE NICKLE!!!”
The crowd gasped! The air taken out of them for a brief instant.
“But,” the man continued almost mockingly implying “ this one nickel, must be removed,
freshly, from your pocket, young man!”
“One nickel?!” Someone shouted. “For that?!! Why it’s worth millions!!! Billions! It will
change the world!”
Johnny, of course knew the answer and felt it in the pit of his stomach. He already spent
all of his change and had no dime, no nickel and certainly, painfully, not even a penny like the old,
dirty man in the alleyway begged him for. Not a single one.
Johnny half expected from the tone in the man’s voice that somehow, inexplicably the man
from behind the table knew it as well. But how?
Johnny simply did not have any change left. In his selfishness and greed, he had spent
every last cent. Frivolously wasting it on candy just like his mother implored him not to do this time.
He was crushed. Sunk. The world conspired against him. Maybe for the first time in his
young selfish life, but certainly not the last. As we shall soon see.
If he had only listened to his mother.
Johnny, knowing full-well he didn’t have a red-cent on him, reached deep into his pockets
anyway. Too embarrassed at his greed that day to act otherwise. And all that he found was the now
crumpled and chocolate and caramel stained list his mother had given him for the groceries along
with three other balled-up receipts. Johnny feigned innocence and ignorance.
“Ahhh, ahhhh… no sir, I don’t have any money on me. You see, I was sent by my mother
to the store for groceries and had only just enough for the provisions.”
The man in the tatter-top-hat snapped back hastily. Half laughing at the simple, avoidable
irony of the situation!
“Well, where’s the change boy!? Where’s the change?! Surely there must be change! How
could the groceries you were sent to purchase cost the exact amount you were given? That’s
preposterous!”
“I… I don’t know, sir. But I don’t have any left.” Johnny was desperately, feigning
innocence. Half playing to the crowd, hoping for some charity perhaps.
The crowd bought it.
“ I have a nickel!” Someone shouted. “Here, catch!”
The anonymous donor indeed threw the nickel up to the table and it glanced off a corner
of the table and rolled in a big uneven loop near Johnny’s feet.
“Gee, thanks, mister! “ Johnny shouted as the nickel wavered and shook left and right like
a see-saw to a slow stop and then a drop with an ever so slight “ping”.
As the tossed nickel lost momentum and settled flat to the sidewalk, Johnny bent down to
pick it up when the man in the tattered top hat immediately put his foot over it, stepping on it to
prevent Johnny from picking it up.